The responsibilities of being Chief
by J.M. Fox
Summary: Being the chieftain of a village can be a thankless job at times but it can become ten times as hard to do, especially if you never wanted it in the first place and your predecessor is no longer around to guide you. My interupation of how Hiccup spends his very first day as the new Chief or Berk. **SPOILER ALERT, HTTYD 2**
1. Surprise nuptials

**Just finished watching HTTYD 2 for a second time, and let my tell you it was freak'n awesome. Even if you aren't a fan, I still say that its worth going to see at least once especially in 3D. I enjoyed it so much that it has inspired my to pen this fic, well one of two actually, both of the ideas came to me as i was walking out of my first viewing of the movie and have been soaring non-stop through my thoughts. This is my first time writing anything for HTTYD, most of the stuff that I have previously post is for KFP, but what can I other than after seeing the movie I can't seem to focus on any of my other works until I get it out of my system, so I do hope that all of you enjoy reading it. **

**Just a warning for those of you who haven't had a chance to see the movie yet, this fic contains **SPOILERS**, so I strongly suggest if you haven't seen the movie than don't read this. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, etc, etc, etc **

**The responsibilities of being Chief**

**Chapter 1, Surprise nuptials' **

With Gothi still standing in front of him from anointing him the new Chief of Berk, a sudden thought occurred to him, and it seemed like as good as time as any given his new position. Briefly glancing back over his shoulder toward his long time girlfriend and noticing the cute smile upon her face, knew that in a few moments time, his spontaneous decision was either going to be very stupid or make both of them very happy for the rest of their lives. Motioning for the village elder and Gobber to come closer, Hiccup bowed slightly as Gothi stood before him and leaning in closer toward the sagely woman and Smithy, filled the two in on his little plan. Having not moved form the spot where her boyfriend had kissed her, Astrid, might not have known what the new Chief, the Village Elder, and the Chief's right hand man were secretively talking about but when Gobber turned his head and quickly looked at her before rejoining the heads of the other two, she knew that it had something to do with her. Judging by the ear to ear goofy grin what covered Hiccup's face as the three parted ways, a few moments later, and he began to walk back toward where she stood, he was about to either do something stupid or crazy or both and she was somehow involved but to what extent she did not yet know. Walking right up to blonde haired, blue eyed steadfast shield maiden, the young Chief embraced her about the hips and leaning toward her pressed his lips against her own in a deep passionate kiss, pouring every last speck of the love that he had for her into it.

Closing her eyes as she melted into the kiss, Astrid wrapped her arms around him, one hand found its way to rest upon the middle of his back while her other caressed the nape of his neck as she began to kiss him back. Then just as their kiss was beginning to get really good, so good that the shield maiden began to dearly wish that they were someplace a little more private instead of standing before the entire village like they currently were and preferably dragon free for once, Hiccup pulled away braking the couples deep kiss. Furrowing her brow in annoyance up at her boyfriend, since he rarely ever took the initiative in their kisses, Astrid noticed that a soft warm smile had replaced his previous goofy grin from before but what he did next made her jaw drop in awe as he took a single step away for her, completely braking their intimate embrace and dropping down on his one good knee, tenderly held her left hand in-between both of his. Having once been in the young lass' position herself, Valka, already knew what her son was about to do and even thought she did not know the girl all that well, having yet to be formally introduced to her, it was easy for her to read that both loved the other deeply even if they hadn't out right admitted it to each other yet; and given the rapid chain of events which had just past, she didn't hold it against him for not properly introducing the two them and if her son didn't do so soon after what he was about to do, than she was going to demand it as well as an explanation as to why in the gods name he had been the one to shoot down Toothless, in the first place. Valka, had countless questions to ask her son about what had happened to the Berk, after Cloud Jumper had whisked her away form all those years ago? What was it that finally made Stoick, see that dragons were not the same monsters he once believed them to be but smart, intelligent creatures to be treated with respect and admired. Questions like these and countless others swirled around inside her head like a dragon effortlessly flying through the sky but they would have to wait until later to be answered, for now it was her son's big moment and she could tell that he was beginning to get nervous even thought he really had not reason to be when it was quite plain to her and most if not all of the other villagers that the girl was in love with him and him with her.

"Astrid, I know that this is very sudden but before you give me your answer, what ever it maybe, I want you to know that I'm asking you this form a place of love. You are my confidante, my unwavering supporter and my voice of reason when I'm thinking of doing something crazy," Hiccup stopped when he said that because this made Astrid roll her eyes as if silently commenting, 'really, since when,' before he continued speaking adding sheepishly, "Well most of the time, anyway. This last time was an exception. Milady, you are as strong, beautiful and cunningly intelligent as the agile Deadly Nadder you ride. So I humbly ask if you'll do me the honuor of becoming my wife, and together we shall fly the azure skies."

Feeling happy tear well up in the corners of her eyes, Astrid didn't even have to think about her answer for a single second because she knew with all of her heart that Hiccup was the only man for her and had been ever since there first flight on Toothless together. That night was the one that had forever changed how she not only viewed dragons in general but also how she saw him too as her frustration with him had changed to admiration instead. Still that didn't mean that she was going to answer his proposal right away, even if her answer was a resounding giddy yes, however the shield maiden liked it when she saw him fidget nervously no doubt worried that she was possibly considering turning him down. After letting the tension build for a little over a minute, which no doubt felt like a lifetime for him, Astrid gazed down at her knelt boyfriend with a soft warm smile and equally warm expression upon her face.

"Oh, Hiccup, I wouldn't want to be with anyone other than you," Astrid answered happily as tears rolled down her cheeks, "So I accept your offer, babe."

Standing as quickly as his metal leg would allow him, Hiccup caressed his arms around her waist once again and this time leaning toward one another the married couple shared their first kiss as husband and wife before a crowd of hooting and hollering villagers and lowly roaring dragons; Toothless and Stromfly were both happy that their riders had finally become mates, having picked up on the pairs strong attraction toward each other from the first time the couple had ridden either of them together. Lightly pulling at the tiny braids of auburn hair at the back of her hubby's hair, a few moments later, Astrid felt as if the rest of the world had fallen away around them while a pleasing warmth began to fill her; it was a warmth that she had only felt whenever she was with him, it made her feel all warm and toasty on the inside and now it was all hers for the rest of their lives. Coming back to the harsh realities of their life and the dire-straight's that village was in form Drago's attack, as Hiccup brake the kiss a little over a minutes later but in a tender and loving whisper in his young brides ear promised that he would make it up to her later on that night. Sweetly pecking her husband briefly on his lips, a few moments later, Astrid laced the fingers of her right hand together with those of his left as he turned to face the assembled villagers.

"First of let me say that I'm not my father and I don't know the first thing about what it takes to be a Chief, so just bear with me since I'll be leaning as I go along," the young chieftain began addressing the people and dragons now under his care.

Continuing to speak Hiccup began to organize the villagers in to various groups, each one with a different task assigned to them, these jobs ranged for melting the dangerous towers of ice to village repair to even flying patrols around the battered island just in case one of the other tribes decided to launch a surprise attack while they were weakened. After everyone know what they were supposed to be doing, the young Chief told them that if they needed him for anything than he was going to be up at his house checking things out there. For the most part everyone seemed happy about the tasks Hiccup had assigned to them, well except for Tuffnut whom groaned insufferably about having to work with Eret but he wouldn't have any of it and told Tuff bluntly that the village needed every available set of hands to help in the rebuilding effort and that if he didn't like that than he could take it up with his sister, Ruff. Lifting his free hand and massaging his temples with it, he could already foresee those two causing seemingly endless trouble for him not just now but the near future as well and he hadn't even been the Chief for less than ten minutes. Lowering his raised hand he summoned the burly smithy, and his mentor, over and asked Gobber to keep an eye on the twins and more notable keep to a smitten Ruff from burning down what few builds that were still left standing. Nodding in acknowledgement of his Chief's orders, the peg-legged blacksmith joined the mass of villagers already walking back in the direction of their ruined or completely destroyed homes, leaving only Hiccup, Valka, Astrid and countless dragons standing there.

"Some things never change, and here we had it perfectly built up and everything," Hiccup complained as he surveyed only a small portion of the damage left behind from Drago's Bewilder beast, "Well so far as I can tell no looked to be missing or hurt, so that's a huge weight off of my shoulders but still what are we going to do about all of these dragons."

"Hiccup, I sure things will work out, you'll see," Astrid reassuringly commented a comforting tone coming to her voice, "They always do, besides isn't there a little something that you think that you should probably take care before we head up to our new home, you know now since were technically married."

"Oh, by Odin's bread, it completely slipped my mind," Hiccup said as his new wife's words instantly sank in, realizing that he hadn't taken the time to properly introduce Astrid to his mother yet and now that they were husband and wife, it really wasn't the best way to begin a marriage with the woman he loved. Walking toward his mother and standing before her, a few moments later, added, awkwardly, "Mom, this is Astrid, Astrid, this is my mother."

"It's a pleasure to met you," Astrid said releasing hiccup's hand and warmly smiling at the tall woman that stood before the couple, a nostalgic feeling briefly washing over her as she remembered that a similar situation had played out when Hiccup had first introduced her to toothless and the dragon to her.

"No the pleasures mine, Astrid, my name is Valka, but you may came me Val," Valka said extending a hand which the younger woman took hold of and shook it before both let go and swept her eyes over the new wife, before casually saying, "I can certainly see how come my son, feel in love with you and the way you control that dragon of yours its hard to tell were one ends and the others begins, the two of you are so in sync with the each other."

"Yeah, well Stromfly and me have been together for a while now but she still manages to surprised me ever now and then, I've still got a bit learn if I ever want to catch up with those two," the shield maiden responded, her smile growing and eyes beginning to sparkle remembering all the fun the two had together since peace had come to Berk, "But none of this would have even been possible if it wasn't for Hiccup and Toothless, they were the ones that showed everyone that Vikings and dragons could work together in peace and harmony even if the legendary feat did cost him a foot. I still can't believe that just five years ago, I was so eagerly looking forward to winning dragon slaying training and earning the honour of killing one in front of the entire village but then I met Toothless and that was the night everything changed for me."

Valka could tell just by the look in Astrid's eyes as she spoke about meeting Toothless for the first time that it had truly been an eye opening experience for the lass and not just in the way she felt about dragons either; she made a mental note to ask about it in more detail when the time was right, if the couple didn't mind sharing it with her, of course. Happy for the two of them, even with the village that she had left behind some twenty years earlier more or less in ruin, the returned wife of the former Chief felt happy to be back home and couldn't wait to pass down all the information that she had learned about dragons to her son and the people of Berk. With her head still buzzing with questions and thirsty for the answers to them, Valka joined the young couple as they both climbed aboard their individual winged mounts and taking to the unusually clear sky flew in the direction of the Chief's house. Flying a wide circle above the village to make it to there destination the trio saw first hand the damage that the battle had been left behind, and so far as Hiccup could tell only a dozen or so homes would have to be entirely rebuild, another half dozen were in need of repair, but at least the dragon stables seemed to be in good order and the Great Hall somehow managed to escape the attack undamaged even thought the buildings that surrounding it were either blasted apart with ice or otherwise showed damage in other ways. This was a good sign because it meant that more than likely the home of the chieftain, had escaped the attack unscathed as had Gothi small single room shack high up in the mountain range just behind the village.

**My original idea was to have this as a single one-shot but then it just kept on growing and growing and even though in some of other fic's I have long chapters, i didn't want do that with this pairing. So look forward to more Chapters, however not ever one is going to have an individual chapter title like this, as always I welcome all reviews. **


	2. Chapter 2

**First of all I'd like to thank all of those of you whom left reviews or chose to follow this story. I take everything that you say to me seriously and make the changes accordingly, if necessary, I am also pleased that so many of you are reading my work. When I first stated typing this one, I decided that I was going to attempt to keep as much of the film's feel as possible, yet expend the story line from the movie at the same time. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the HTTYD characters, etc. **

**The responsibilities of being Chief**

**Chapter 2**

Carefully landing on the open areas which flanked the large two story wooden structure, five minutes later, Valka, Hiccup and Astrid disembarked from their individual dragons and began walking toward the imposing buildings heavy front door. For the new Chief this was going to be the first time stepping back inside of his home since his now late father had attempted to sit him down and talk about passing the gauntlet of leadership down to him but he stubbornly refused to listen, Hiccup would have rather gone mapping instead and now he solemnly regretted that decision. For Valka it was a home coming twenty years in the making, naturally she knew that the house would have gone through some changes during the time she spent living amongst the dragons but the home she entered was not the same one that she had remembered from her past; it felt different, to her it felt cold and made her want to wrap her arms about herself in an attempt to keep warm, in short it had lost the warmth that she had remembered it once having. Watching as her son whistled and Toothless poked his head inside before shooting a small ball of blue flames toward the central hearth in the middle of the room, igniting the log which he had placed inside to illuminate the homes interior before thanking the dragon and dismissing the Night Fury with the wave of his hand to wait outside since he had grown to big to find inside of the house like he used to.

"There now that we have some light in here, it shouldn't take to long for the rest of the house to heat up as well," Hiccup said walking over toward a couch shaped piece of furniture with a lashed together wooden frame and covered in various pelts, sitting down atop it, "I can still remember waking up down here after defeating the Red Death and totally freaking out because Toothless was inside of my house, that was how I loss this, by the way," he added casually while pointing to his mechanical metal replacement.

"You and I both know that it could have been far worse if Toothless hadn't been there to catch you in time, Hiccup," Astrid said in a half harsh, half loving tone as she sat down beside Hiccup, "I mean it, babe, one of these days your luck is going to run out, besides as it was you had me worried sick for that entire week you were out and there wasn't a single thing that I could do about it. I begged and pledged with your dad to let me stay over here until you finally came to but he wouldn't allow it, nor would my parents either but that's beside the point. I wanted so desperately to be the first face that you saw when you woke up, so when I heard that morning that you had awoken from my mom, I dropped everything and jumping atop Stromfly fly right over here tut sweet."

"The Red Death, just who or should I say, what was that?" Valka asked trying to wrap her head around the name that had been mentioned and how it was connected to his missing limb as well as why Astrid had been so worried about him, "I have never heard that name before, so would one of you care explain what happened to change Berk some much. When Cloud Jumper took me away all those years ago, I never thought that I would live to see the day that Viking's would ride the backs of dragons and yet practically everyone here now does."

"It's a long story, Mom, so you might want to sit down and I'm forewarning you that there are some parts of it that you may find frightening because trust me, I certainly was terrified while I was expressing them," the young chieftain said pointing to the large chair adjacent to the couple, his fathers old one, indicating that his mother should take a seat a join them relaxing by the lowly burning fire, "I just ask that you leave any questions you may have until after, I'm finished ok. Oh and before I forget as you walk around the village you may here the name the Dragon Conquer come up ever now and then but don't worry about it, its just the name I was sort of given for being able to tame and train even the most wild of dragons so easily after spending just a few minutes with them. Now shall we begin?"

"Yes, let's," Valka said taking a seat in her late husbands huge chair, it still had his musky aroma making her wonder just how long it had been since he had last sat down upon it.

Taking a deep breath to clam himself, while patiently waiting for his mother to get comfortable settled in the massive chair, Hiccup still got a little nervous when he had to tell the story about how his one simple cowardly act of freeing the most feared dragon in Viking knowledge, at the time, had such a profound impact on the rest of Berk and once she was settled he began form the very beginning of it all, the night that he had shot down Toothless; unintentionally shearing off his tail fin, crippling the Night Fury and taking away his ability to fly on his own forever. Both Valka and Astrid watched the tears welled up in the corners of his green eyes as he spoke about robbing Toothless of his natural born freedom and both woman could tell that he felt guilty about what he had done to his scaly best friend, but the tears didn't fall they just sat their until the warmth of the low fire burning in the rooms central hearth evaporated them away. Sitting on the edge of her seat Valka listened intently as her son explained how he cut Toothless free and gradually was able train the Night Fury after slowly bonding with him all the while learning how to kill dragons form Gobber with the rest of the village teens. Valka could only imagine the stress that living this double life had but upon her son, on one hand here he was learning the skills a Viking needed to slay a dragon while on the other he was secretly taming and training one in a hidden cove, fortunately for the then teenage Hiccup, Stoick was out at sea trying to locate the nest and destroy it to be rid of the dragon's that way; silently thinking about it, if she had been around at the time she might have even helped her son in training Toothless, then she began to wonder what was Astrid doing during all of this, surely she must have been helping him out somehow, right?

**Just in case it wasn't quite clear what this chapter was about it's basically just Hiccup fill his mother in on the events of the first movie, if I really wanted to I could have done a long and detailed flashback like explanation but I've seen so many of those posted over the past month or so leading up to HTTYD 2 release. Now I know that I also have the Toothless/Stromfly pairing listed and I haven't forgotten about the two of them, so they'll make an appearance soon. Anyway you know what to do, R&amp;R. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Now i know that in the movies their dragons can't talk, so this is a translation of there growls, roars and what ever over various sounds that the dragons use to communicate with one another. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own HTTDY, it's characters, etc. **

**The responsibilities of being Chief**

**Chapter 3**

As their human companions talked inside the wooden building, which looked down upon the rest of the village, the dragons made themselves comfortable where they waited outside of the chieftain's home.

"Toothy, I'm cold," Stromfly complained shuffling a little closer to the Night Fury's side.

"Stromfly, are you really cold or do you just want to cuddle?" Toothless asked back, not that the dragoness real reasons for wanting to be close to him were really important to him, he could never find the strength to refuse or turn her away.

"A little bit of both," the cerulean blue Nadder chimed, giving the jet black dragon a soft loving look.

"Very well than, beautiful, come here," the Night Fury said while opening up his left wing and inviting the Nadder to bask his warmth with the light flick of his head. Tenderly adding, "You know, that I can never say no to you," as the dragoness squatted at his side and he draped his large wing over the her back, prompting her to lean her spike crowned head against the side of his neck and both crooned happily

"Ah, young love," mused Cloudjumper while watching to pair of cuddling dragons directly across form him, "You two take after both of your riders."

"You had better watch that tone of yours there, old man, or do I need to remind you who you're talking about here," Toothless warned the owl looking dragon that had to be at least twice the size of him but then again the Bewilder Beast that he had taken down less than two hours ago was a hundred maybe even a thousand times bigger than him and it still yielded to his might, "As the top dragon here on Berk, I could be with any dragoness I want but I would rather be with Stromfly here because we've known each other since we were both hatchlings and on top of that I do happen to care about her."

"Awe, Toothy, I care about you too," Stromfly cooed lifting her head from where it was resting and affectionately touching her muzzle to Toothless' check in her form of a kiss before withdrawing and placing her head back against the side of his neck sweetly.

And with that the three dragon's conversation came to an end.

**Short and sweet, additionally I have decided to up the rating for this point on ward due to is growing content. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Now I know that last chapter was super short and mostly fluff but I thought that the story was getting a little to heavy, and needed a little bit of lightening besides I fond it fun to write and not only that but it just makes logical sense to pair up their dragons. This chapter concludes Hiccups explanation, and by far one of my favourite parts of the first movie. As for the second one, there are just too many to choose from for me to say that I favour one part over another. Well anyway back to the story. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the right's or characters, etc. **

**The responsibilities of being Chief **

**Chapter 4 **

For the most part as Hiccup spoke, Astrid remained silent as she snuggled against him with her head resting on his leather armored shoulder, relived that he had made it through the battle with Drago's Bewilder Beast yet still knowing that it would take time for him to fully get over the sudden death of his father and Toothless' unwilling role in it. At least that was until he got to her favourite part of the explanation, the two teens romantic moonlit ride around Berk before Toothless, strongly trusting the two humans upon his back not only showed them the way to the dragon's nest but also the massive Queen dragon which ruled over it, imposing her will upon the other dragons to raid Berk, the shield maiden very politely interrupted her husband and asked if she could tell this part of the story and with a courteous nod he let her. Noticing the faint blush that covered the couple's cheeks after Astrid had finished speaking and the sparkles in the lass' blue eyes, that was clearly the night that she had begun to fall in love with her son, it was all thanks to Toothless; even if it didn't answer all of the questions that Valka had about her daughter-in-laws whereabouts while her son was busy leading his double life at the very least it showed that even the most hardy of vikings could be moved by her son to see most Dragon's true nature, that plus she strongly suspected that Astrid had some sort of feelings toward Hiccup long before, Toothless took them on that eye opening flight for both teens. Picking the story back up form where his wife had ended it with their first kiss in the hidden cove, the blush on his cheeks slowly fading, Hiccup continued speaking until its dramatic conclusion with his and Toothless' one on one fight with the queen dragon then known as the Red Death and waking up to find the Night Fury happily pouncing and bounding inside the main room of his fathers home, which was followed a short time later by yet another kiss for Astrid on the lips this time and very publicly in front to the whole village.

"And that's how it happened, Mom, just because I couldn't bring myself to kill Toothless when I had the chance to and be the Viking that Dad had always wanted me to be, the two of us changed how everyone here on Berk saw dragons," Hiccup said a light sigh escaping for his lips, relieved that his mother seemed to be taking it so well, that he had somehow managed to avoid dying countless times during training Toothless, while sliding an arm over Astrid's back and resting its hand atop her hip. Unlike the time he had explained himself to now his late father whom would go paled faced every time that he had almost died but fortunately Astrid was at his side that time as well so that made telling the whole thing a little easier on him; back then the two of them weren't as close as they had grew to become over the five years that had past since then but that wasn't what mattered to him, at the time teenaged Hiccup was just relived that she was just there, "After that Vikings and dragons have been living and working together here in peace, I mean sure it did take the animals a little while to warm up to the idea of them always being around but once they did it was just fine. My and the other teens became good friends and Dad turned the old dragon killing arena into a dragon training academy of which I'm the head."

"Well that certainly explains the Berk, that I now see around me, and over such a short period of time too" Valka noted still in the process of absorbing all the information that her son had just finished telling her, the story having answered most of her questions except for the few that she had concerning Astird's whereabouts before Toothless' flight but she could and with that she focused her gaze upon the blonde shield maiden and asked, "So if you don't mind me asking, Astrid, before Hiccup's proposal just now, how long had the two of you been seeing one another?"

"Five years," Astrid said a soft smile coming to her face, "And that was a really sweet proposal by the way, babe, I especially liked the part where you compared me to Stromfly, that was incredibly thoughtful of you since you sort of remind me of Toothless and its not because both of you have artificial parts but because both of you are so kind and gentle yet can also be strong and fierce, depending on the situation."

"If you don't mind me saying so, I think both of your personalities bare a striking resemblance to that of your dragons, take Stromfly for example, I sure that she can be aggressive when she really wants to be but most of the time I'm willing to bet that she's very friendly and playful at heart," Valka commented comparing her daughter-in-laws behaviour with that of her dragon, "She's light and agile on her feet and I'm willing to say so are you Astrid but when angered or threaten you're not afraid to show that warrior within yet you can also be kind and gentle as well, like you being right now with my son. Now it's just my personal belief but I believe that the more time a rider spends with their dragon the closer the two personalities become and eventually the two grow to a point where they instinctive know how the other thinks and behaves and reacts accordingly. That's the type of bond that I have developed with Cloudjumper as you saw in that battle we fought at the outside of the nest, the two of us worked as one neither fighting the other for control."

"Yeah, that was pretty cool, the way that the two of just charged headlong into the battle without any fear to speak of," Astrid commented, thinking back to the battle and the commanding presence Valka gave off dressed in that dragon looking armour, "I was speechless when, Hiccup pulled up beside me and told that you were his mother but it certainly dose explain that dramatic flare of his, I'll give him that."

Turning her attention to the hearth in the middle of the room and noticing that the fire had begun to die down to almost nothing but embers, Astrid uncurled herself out of Hiccup's grasp upon her and collecting a second log for the pile on the other side of the room, carefully leaned it against the almost completely burned one already resting inside before returning to her seat next to him. Just as she had once again made herself comfortable snuggled against her hubby's side once more, they heard a knock and looking toward the still open doorway saw Gobber standing there holding a rolled up piece of paper in his one good hand. Instantly concerned that maybe the Twins or Snotlout were causing trouble down in the village, the first thing the young chief did was groan before asking the smithy was if something had happened and he was needed to break it up a fight or something. This of course naturally made the blacksmith, chuckle lightly, the mere idea that someone the likes of Hiccup could break up a fight between two big burly Vikings was slightly amusing but than again whom said that the Chief would be the one doing the breaking when he could just as easily have Toothless do the job for him with a single plasma blast and after the fire power that the Night Fury had displayed while fighting the Alpha, it was clear that he certainly lived up to the reputation as the offspring of lighting and death itself. Fortunately for Hiccup, the clean up was process was going smoothly so far with no unforeseen problems or set backs, which potentially would have been dangerous given that winter was going to be bearing its icy teeth down upon the hardy island soon and they had yet to even begin harvesting any of the stores that carried them through the harsh Berkian winter but those could be started on the followed day, right now he had homeless people to attended to and there needs came before all else; the dragon problem could be easily solved by filling the stables until bursting point and quickly erecting simple make-shift pens for the over follow, in the morning him, Astrid and maybe Valka, if she wanted to, would scout out possible additional stable locations.

Asking Gobber what he was doing there if the preliminary clean up and reconstruction was going so well and everyone was working well together, Hiccup got his answer as the smithy unfurled the roll he held with a shape twist of the wrist and began to read off the report he had written about the current condition of every building and structure in the village, starting with all the ones that either had to be rebuilt entirely or repaired in some way and finishing his report with the ones that either had none or minimal damage to speak of. Mentally going over the aerial view of the village that he had gotten earlier, while Gobber rattled off his report, and found that it preciously matched up with what had been seen; consequently the nice little home that the Hofferson's had built up since the peacefully resolution with the dragons was one of the homes that had taken massive damage, so he made a mental note to begin the major rebuilding there, additionally the family homes of his fellow riders and friends where also mentioned on the list but they faired a little bit better than the one belong to his in-laws. Taking notice of the time that had past, since he had first sat down to fill in some of the blanks that his mother no doubt had inside her mind, and realizing that it would be getting dark soon, thanked the blacksmith for his very detailed report before suggesting that the affected families by put up in the Great Hall for the time being until their homes could be either rebuilt or fixed, which the smithy quickly agreed was the best option left to them, before telling his former mentor to gather a group of villagers to start building temporary pens to hold any dragons that couldn't fit in the existing stables and telling him to ask Fishleg's for assistance corralling them into like groups since his expertise would make the whole thing go a lot smoother than it would without it. Nodding his head in acknowledgement that he understood, the peg-legged blacksmith left.

"Hiccup are you sure that it's a smart idea for you to be leaving the twins and Snotlout unsupervised," Astrid commented, a worrying note edging her voice, knowing just how easy it was for the Ruff and Tuff to cause trouble on there own without the assistance of Snotlout, "You know how those three can get when left, to their own devises."

"Don't worry about it, Astrid, in a little while I'll go down and see how things are going for myself," the new Chief said turning to face his new bride, doing his best to reassure her confidently that it was nothing to be so worked up about even thought the idea of the three of them together did leave him slightly unsettled, "Just because I'm not a towering mass of rippling Viking muscles, like most of the men around here, I'm sure that I can find some way to help everyone out. It's a part of my responsibilities as the Chief, if there is one thing that my dad managed to tell me about being Chief before his untimely passing, it was that a Chief always takes the time the listen to the people under his care, so that's what I fully intend on doing."

"If you're going to be helping out, son, than so shall I," Valka said ready to get her hands dirty and help ease some of the weight now resting upon her sons slim but sturdy shoulders, "I think that I'll go and help Gobber with settling the dragons, I'm curious to find out just how much your friend Fishleg's knows about dragons for myself."

"Just one thing before you go, Val," Astrid said still getting used to her new mother-in-law and the casual way that she wished to be addressed, "Space on the island is going to be a little tight until the reconstruction is finished and with winter on its way soon there's no knowing when you well finally have a place to call your own, so I just wanted to let you know that your welcome to stay here with us, for as long as you want."

"That's very generous of you, dear, but I wouldn't want to impose," Valka answered her daughter-in-law, softly smiling, not wanting to possibly walk in on the two of them or get in their way as they adjusted to life living together.

"Mom, it's ok if you want to stay here, you can take the bedroom down here on the main level and me and Astrid will just share my room up in the loft," Hiccup commented, turning to face her direction suspecting that his mother was under the impression that the house only had one room for the three of them to share, which it be honest would be extremely awkward for all of them, and informed her that the house she was now seated inside of was not the same one that she had left, "It may be a little cozy up there but we'll manage."

"No, son, you and your wife should sleep in the room down here," Valka said, understanding why her son didn't want to sleep in the very same bed that his father once did, so what could possible make him think that it would be any easier on her to once again be back in the bed of the man she loved, the very bed in fact that the two had conceived Hiccup in, not long after their own marriage all those years ago, "Hiccup, I know that the transition that you're experiencing right now is hard upon you, what with Stoick's sudden passing and everything, and you might not believe that your ready to be the Chief yet but you are, Son. I mean for crying out loud, you lead a band of teenagers in to battle against the Red Death on the back of untrained dragons even after everything that your father had told you, if that doesn't show leadership qualities' than I don't know what dose especially when you could have just as easily stood by and did nothing."

"I couldn't just do nothing, Mom, even if all of them thought of my as nothing more than the village screw-up at the time, I couldn't stand by and allow them get wiped out like that," Hiccup said taken back that his own mother would ever say such a thing, sure it was true that she herself had tried countless times to make Stoick change his made about the dragons before Toothless even came into the picture and failed but why would she such a thing to him now. Naturally he was nervous about becoming the new Chief, anybody would be, it wasn't like he ever showed any real interest in becoming the next Chief to even begin with but then again it was also true that he had lead Astrid and the rest of the village teens fearlessly in to the gapping jaws of potential death on the back of the very dragons that the village kept specifically for the purpose of learning dragon slaying and come out the other side mostly unharmed, the village hero and even got the girl of his dreams, "But I didn't do it alone, I had Astrid and the others there to support and back me up, and to be honest I don't think that I would have done any of it, if it wasn't for Astrid, she's the one that kept pushing me to know how come I hadn't killed Toothless when I had the chance and now that I think about it that was the first time that we ever argued."

"Well I couldn't stand seeing you look like that, babe, it was just too painful for me," Astrid said staring up lovingly into her husbands green eyes, the words that he had told/ yelled at her in that heated moment as the two of them stood there, were and would forever be burned into her memory, "And I knew that if I pushed you a little bit, you would figure it all out and you did just that," before reaching up with her free hand and giving him a flick on his ash covered forehead and withdrawing her hand added, "That was for not introducing me to Stromfly before introducing Snotlout and the rest of gang to their dragons, it was the least that you could do."

"I'll have you know, that I did way for a reason, Astrid. If I showed you preferential treatment by taking care of you first, then I never would have gotten to see the look on Snotlout's face as I took my time introducing you to your dragon before you climbed up onto the back of Stromfly behind me and nestled against me," Hiccup said reaching across his body with him free hand and tenderly cupping his bride's cheek briefly, "The look in his face was truly priceless, it is by far one of my favourite memories."

Then the couple leaned toward one another and their lips met in a very quick kiss, before pulling a part, a few seconds later. Softly smiling up at her husband as they broke a part, Astrid didn't know what the future held for the two of them or even for Berk for that matter but she was going to steadfastly support Hiccup what ever came there way and defend their home proudly standing or flying at his side until the end of her earthly days. Returning his attention toward his mother, Hiccup understood that what she was been trying to tell him was that even thought he was now the chieftain of Berk, that didn't mean that he had to bare the all the weight of running the village solely on his shoulders alone not when he had people around him that wanted to help bare it as well, naturally as Chief there would be things that only he could do but for some of the other things he could hand it off to one of his subordinates. After spending a few minutes, finalizing the sleeping arrangements for the time being until they could find a place to build Valka a home of her own, a light sigh feel from Hiccup lips and both woman knew that it was time to go and help with the village clean up where they could. Putting out the low fire burning in the central hearth so that the fire was no more but a few warm embers retained their glow, the three riders stood up and headed for the door. Standing outside the home of the Chieftain, less than a minute later, Valka, Hiccup and Astrid were breathless as their eyes feel upon a dozing Stromfly resting her crowned head tenderly against the side of a protectively watching Toothless' neck while directly across from them laid the owl-looking Cloudjumper minding his own business. Only taking notice of his human companion when he felt a hand touch him atop his far shoulder, did the black Night Fury lift his gaze for the Nadder nestled against the other side him, and smiled up at his rider cooing softly.

"You really do take after my, don't yeah, bud," the young chieftain commented while smiling back at his faithful dragon, as the Night Fury shifted his gaze back upon the cerulean blue Nadder sleeping against his side, "I was going to see if you felt like flying back down to the village square but since it looks like you've already got your wings full with a beautiful dragoness, I think that me and the misses will just walk down there instead."

"Stromfly, looks really happy and I really don't want to wake her," Astrid noted walking up to stand beside her husband and slipping her hand over his, intertwined their fingers together, as she stared into the face of her sleeping dragon and seeing how peaceful Stromfly looked, before turning her head to look back over her shoulder at Valka, whom was getting ready to climb atop Cloudjumper and asking, "Val, would you mind giving us a ride down to the village square."

"Sure, no problem, besides I wouldn't want to disrupt those two either myself," Valka said softly smiling at the sight of the couples two cuddling dragons, before motioning for Hiccup and Astrid to come on over with the wave of her hand.

Walking the short distance over to where Valka stood and carefully climbing aboard to four wing storm breaker class dragon, the three of them took to the air. For both Astrid and Hiccup it was a new experience, having never ridden such a large dragon before and even though the natural saddle like scales where they sat did have just enough of a grip to hold all three of them in place as they effortlessly cut through the gradually darkening sky both still preferred the feeling they got from flying on the backs of there own dragons in comparison. The flight down from the house to the square in the middle of the village was short and sliding down the side of Cloudjumper first as soon as they had landed, the new Chief quickly recovered his balance before staring up at his beloved and raising both of his hands just above chest height motioned for Astrid to jump down. Easily catching his wife as she hopped down from the large dragons back, Hiccup had to take a small step backward to counteract her forward motion but a part from that, he gently set her feet on the ground and thanked his mother and Cloudjumper for the lift, before the two were airborne yet again, a few moments later, headed in the direction of the dragon stables no doubt looking for Gobber or Fishlegs to volunteer their assistance in rounding up all the extra dragons that now called the island there home. Leaving the central square of the village themselves, shortly after Valka's departure, Hiccup and Astrid walked around inspecting the work that was already in progress.

Later on that night after completing as much work as was possible before nightfall brought it to an end, the village held a huge feast in the Great Hall to not only celebrate to defeat of Drago Bludvst but the life of Stoick the Vast, Toothless' new Alpha dragon status, and the marriage of Hiccup and Astrid as well. The highlight of which had to be when Astrid's father, approached his new Chief at the very height of the festivities and kneeling down on one knee before his Chieftain presented Hiccup with his own sword signifying that he entrusted the well being of his daughter to the head of the tribe, humbly accepting the mans sword and knowing the significance of it, the new Hooligan tribe Chieftain assured his father-in-law that Astrid was in safe hands and with that her kneeling father raised back to his feet and returned to enjoying the party. Hiccup couldn't remember a time in his life that he had ever drunken so much mead before, the first drink was shared between the two of them as a part of their marriage ceremony but after that one, most of the men of the village all insisted that the new Chief have another with them and so on, etc. Eventually at some point the entire evening became one big blurring experience for him but through it all one thought never once left his mind, him and Astrid were now officially married by Viking law. True their actually ceremony was not in the least bit traditional is any sense, and they still had to exchange Oath rings with one another but at it core it still retained, in the happy couples minds at least, the most important parts, even if their timing of the occasion wasn't the best it could and should have been but at least it was held on a Friday, a traditional day for Viking nuptials to be held. The following morning he would collect the Oath rings that he had made over a little over six months earlier without his father or Gobber even knowing which was a feet in itself given just how busy the forge was back then with the all villagers wanting specialty and custom saddles made for their dragons, from there hiding place up in his loft bedroom, and present the ring which he had crafted especially just for her all those countless months past just in case Stoick ever decided to bring up the subject of marriage during one of their all too brief talks between father and son.

Carefully leaning his father-in-laws sword against the wall of the couples bed chamber, after staggeringly crossing over the threshold a drunken mess, quite a while later, and if it wasn't for Astrid who stood supportively at his side, than he might of fallen flat on his face and just fallen asleep where he ended up but with his lovely wife's support he reached the side of the huge pelt covered bed and firmly grasping onto its wooden frame with one hand as she slowly released her hold on him steadied himself. Peering around the pitch black room in his inebriated state, the whirlwind of recent events adrift in a vast ocean of mead, Hiccup refocused his attention as best as he could in his current state and began to get undressed. It wasn't until he was pulling his tunic off over his head, a few moments later, did he realize that before leaving earlier on that evening he had forgotten to bring down his night things form his old loft bedroom down to the couples new one, and in his current drunken half dressed state he know that even attempting to climb the staircase leading up to it would likely end with him just injuring himself somehow. Just then remembering, in his intoxicated mind, that he was about to share the same bed as Astrid, in a few minutes time, and that she only had the clothing that she wore, the new Chief felt his cheeks begin to warm. A furious blush soon covered his cheeks as a few other of his long withheld desires choose this moment to surface but being the consummate gentleman that he always was in regards to her, Hiccup briefly shook his head to wipe those particular feelings form his thoughts for now at least and returned to undressing; there would come a time when both of them would take that next big step but that night was not tonight.

Leaving his prosthetic leg to last since its collection of buckles and straps required his full focus to remove it correctly, the young Chieftain successfully removed the mechanical wonder that he had designed and crafted himself, and after resting it against the nearest wall of the room with some difficulty, lifted his one good foot off the plank floor while twisting onto his side, crawled beneath the pelts looking forward to a long and restful night of rest. Invariably sliding toward the center of the bed as Astrid's slipped in herself, a few moments later, the couples cheeks both took on a rosy glow as their bodies came into intimate physical contact for the first time in their relationship, this awkward moment however was short lived as Hiccup carefully rolled to lay flat upon his back shortly after and Astrid positioned herself partially atop of him. Snuggling even deeper against the warm body of her hubby and him in that of hers, as she felt him tenderly embrace her round the hips, less than a minute later, the blonde rested her head upon his chest and soon the pair of young lovers drifted off to sleep in each others arms.

**Well there you have it, the fourth chapter is finished, and I hope that you enjoyed reading it. I've already got a decent start on the next one, so once its ready, i'll post it. You know what to do, R&amp;R. **


	5. Chapter 5

**The Responsibilities of being Chief **

**Thank you to all of those of you whom have left me reviews, your encouraging words and critiques' help me improve my writing chops. Now since this chapter is quite long, nearly double the length of any in this story thus far, so you've been warned, and I now without any further ado, I bid you fun reading **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, film rights, etc. **

**Chapter** **Five**

Awaken by the feeling of warm breath dancing across his chest, the following morning, Hiccup groggily swept his sleepy eyes over the room before a slight movement atop him drew his gaze back toward himself and the angelic blonde haired young woman still soundly asleep with her head resting upon his chest. Instantly coming out of his sleepy haze as he laid there staring at Astrid, a multitude of thoughts crashed loudly inside of his throbbing head, the most frightening of all the only real possible reasons that the two of them would be so intimately embraced speaking louder than the others, making his head hurt even worse; surely they hadn't really gone and done that, did they. Hiccup was certain that he had wiped those particular thoughts from his mind before crawling underneath the pelts with her, but then again he was also pretty drunk last night so only the gods knew what really happened and if he had somehow managed to force himself upon Astrid, than it was shameful act that he know that he would just have to live with for the rest of his life and their marriage. Either way the new chief was about the find out the answer to that particular question, sooner rather later as his wife began to slowly wake up herself, a few minutes later.

"Morning," Astrid warmly greeted her hubby with a soft smile gracing her lips, however as the couples eyes locked together she noticed a hint of apprehension in the depths of his green eyes, it quickly changed to one of concern and so asked, "Babe, what's the matter, you look like you've got countless question on your mind."

"It's no where near that many, milady, my minds perplexed by only a single and potentially huge one," Hiccup responded while tenderly sweeping the curtain of golden hair that had fallen in front of his lovely wife's face as she raised her head ever so slightly to met his already staring eyes and tucking it behind her ear, before nervously adding, "I can vaguely remember bits and pieces of last nights celebration, but I take it that, that sword leaning against the wall over other used to belong to your father until he handed it down to me, signifying that he has entrusted you and your very well being to me, am I correct."

"Yep, daddy walked up toward you during the height of the celebration and standing before you got down on one knee and presented you with his sword, which you humbly accepted before telling him that he could rise and return to enjoying the party heartily," the shield maiden answered her husband confirming that the important event had indeed happened before realization hit her as to why Hiccup was acting so nervously and felt her own cheeks begin to get flushed, "You're not a very heavy Meade drinker are you, sweetie, so you're bit fizzy about most of last night this morning, aren't you."

"Yeah, you could say that, I feel like I've gotten hit over the head by both Grump and Meatlug's stubby club-like tails at the same time," the new chieftain commented dryly, keeping his eyes locked with those of Astrid, beginning to get hopelessly lost in their warm loved filled depths and noticing her flushed cheeks breathed a sigh of relive knowing that nothing had happened between them the night before except for sleeping in each others arms, "So when I woke up this morning, to us, you know so intimately cuddled, I couldn't help but wonder if we, you know, consummated our union."

"You know some women might take offense to their husband saying something like that to them, especially while their still intimately snuggled in bed together but just this once I'll forgive you, since your always such a gentleman toward me," Astrid said tenderly revealing the soft side of herself that she only every showed just to him, her expression growing warmer to match it and beginning to lightly drum the fingertips of her left hand upon the lightly toned muscles of his core added softly, "But I could happily get used to waking up every morning like this, quite easily, couldn't you Babe."

"I have dreamt of nothing less for the past few months but you and I both know that our union wouldn't truly be complete until we exchange oath rings, darling," Hiccup answered now tenderly working the fingers of his right hand through his wife's long hair easily, since she had taken it out of the usual braid she typically wore it in before going to bed, and honestly now that they were married he couldn't ever see her styling her hair any other way even thought it was traditionally for a woman once she was married to wear it up in a bun, "Your hair is far to beautiful and fair, to be shut up in the traditional bun, so feel free to wear it how ever you like. As my first decree as Berk's new chief, I say that all married woman are free to wear their hair down if they'd like."

"You know I tired doing that once, one morning I put it up in the traditional bun just for a bit of laugh before braiding it but the look just didn't suit so me so I'm glad that you just changed that law," the young woman noted, lifting her left hand from his chest and began to play with her hubby's messy hair, "But don't you think that's a little selfish of you, suddenly changing the law just like that, just because I like to wear my hair in a braid, not that I have anything against the traditional bun."

"I'll have you know, that I just happen to think that all Viking women should be granted a few more freedoms than they currently have in there daily lives because behind ever great man is an equally great woman in there own right, or at least that's what I believe anyway," the fledgling chieftain commented gently caressing his lovely wife about the waist and beginning the sweep the fingers of his left hand up her back. For as skilled a warrior as she was, she had surprisingly soft and silky skin, not that this surprised him since he had touched her bare skin before this but never before did he have access to more than just her upper arms, so he relished the feeling of it passing beneath his fingertips, maybe a little to much. Just then a question that he had never thought of asking her before came to the forefront of his still buzzing mind, now that his concerns about their sex life, or lack there off, had been put at ease, so he asked it, "Astrid, I could understand my dad and Gobber, tracking my and Toothless all the way back to the Alpha's nest but how in the world did you and the others even get there, I thought my dad had ordered you guys to came back to Berk after what happened on Eret's boat."

"I really don't want to ruin the mood right now, babe, so could you ask me that again some other time later," the shield maiden answered honestly, not wanting to ruin the mood of their current atmosphere right now with telling Hiccup that she had been the one whom lead there friends and their dragons directly into the hands of Drago Bludvst and was also the one that proceed to tell the power crazy madman that Berk was an island full of dragon riding Vikings and brag about how him and his all powerful Night Fury.

"Yeah, cuddling like this is really fun, but I miss that slight excitement, I used to get from it never knowing when my dad might come walking up the stairs and catch us, thought," Hiccup mused thinking about the handful of times that the couple use to snuggle like they currently were except clothed and atop the bed back inside of his old loft room, usually after a purposefully long and drawn out ride around the isle typically just around or near sunset so that they and their dragons could find a place to land and watch it together, "I suppose I could ask you again later, it's not as if that mad man found out that we train dragons here and that's how come he attacked, right?"

"Well, um, it sort of funny that you mentioned that," Astrid nervously stammered lowering her gaze and raised hand, having a feeling of what was coming next; Hiccup was smart, to smart to not have not connected the dots, between there appearance at the nest and Drago's attack on Berk and sure enough when she lifted her gaze back to his face, a few moments later, she could just tell that he knew or at least had a strong suspicion of her actions.

"Oh, Astrid, how could you have put everyone here in such a dangerous position again, didn't you learn anything from what happened with me and Toothless."

"At the time I was only doing, what I know you would have done," Astrid scowled harshly, her tough side suddenly emerging and quickly overwhelming her softer one, more ashamed of her own actions than toward her loving hubby, "So I kidnapped Eret and forced him to take us to where Drago was hiding, ok admittedly it wasn't the greatest plan on my part but I was worried that you might have gotten yourself in over your head yet again. It wasn't until he took us there that we and most of our dragons got ambushed, and we were brought before Drago, that I realized you weren't even there and that I had put everyone into a dangerous situation of which there clearly was no escape from."

"Wait, what do you mean by we and most of your dragons getting captured?"

"I mean, the twins, Snotlout, Fishlegs, and myself," Astrid hissed, once again more angry at herself than Hiccup, "Well when Drago's men ambushed us, Stromfly was the only one that got away initially but then she came back when it looked like Drago was going to hurt Eret and was subsequently captured. Now as I was saying before, once I knew for sure that you weren't there, but desperately hoping that you and Toothless were speeding to the rescues I sort of told him that the two of you would reduce his vast armada of ships into flaming wreaks and that Berk was fully of dragon riders. Truthfully it was never my intention to bring the fight back home but that's what happened and in the end you lost your father, and the village is in ruins."

"My father died protecting me from certain death by the very dragon that I have trained, and I know that it wasn't Toothless' fault, the blame rest upon Drago's Bewilder Beast," Hiccup said removing his right hand from where it lay atop her lower back and gently tracing the curves of her figure with it upward, was loving caressing her upon the cheek with it, a few moments later, before concluding his sentence, "As the chief, I wouldn't always be around to protect you all the time, so please don't ever put yourself into such a dangerous situation ever again, you got that. Astrid, you mean so much to me, that I never want to go a single day without waking up to your happy face and warm smile, so promise me that you'll do a better job of looking out for yourself and Stromfly, from now on, ok."

"I will, Hiccup, I promise," Astrid said raising her left once again and cupping his right cheek tenderly, her softer side coming back out whilst feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders, that she had no idea they had been carrying, "After all I'm looking forward to seeing all the great things and bright future that you have envisioned for our hardy little isle and us along side it."

"Somewhere up in Valhalla, I just know that my dad is looking down on the two of us with a huge grin and an equally sized tankard of mead," the auburn haired young man mused, briefly lifting his gaze upward toward the ceiling above their heads before resting it back upon the blonde haired goddess in bed with him and wordlessly leaning toward her, caught Astrid's supple lips in a tender loving kiss.

Moving her left hand from atop Hiccup's cheek and sliding it round to the nape of his neck, Astrid deepened their kiss and for the first time in her life ever, didn't want to get out of bed yet knew that they couldn't stay in bed all day, not with the state that the village was currently in anyway, at least. Cutely rubbing her nose over his, as the need to fill their lungs finally drove them apart, a few minutes later, the happy shield maiden softly smiled at her hubby before giving him a quick peck on the cheek and reluctantly withdrawing her arm from around the back of his neck, slowly crawled out of bed. Naturally the young chieftain would have liked to spend a little more time cuddling with his wife possibly even wasted the whole day lunging in bed with her, but with the village still in tatters and homeless Vikings in need of new homes and getting winter previsions ready, that was out of the question, so working his way toward his side of their bed, a few moments later, Hiccup pushed himself into a seated position and pulling back the edge of the warm pelts the couple had slept under with one hand, reached for his prosthetic leaning against the near wall with the other. Briefly fumbling with the various straps and buckles that kept the mechanical contraption firmly attached to the three quarters of leg he had, in the darkened bedchamber, but once it was locked inside of its corresponding flanged, the rest was easy to take care of; briefly suffering a short moment of vertigo as he did so due to his hangover. Over the course to the five years that had past since having first lost his flesh and bone one in the battle against the Red Death, the ever inventive and ingenious lad, had made countless updates and changes to the prosthetics overall design and function, the end results of which were currently attached to his body; he was particularly proud of its revolving mechanism which switched between the foot that he used when walking and the other one that he used when flying Toothless. Glancing back over his shoulder as he straightened up, and his green eyes fell upon Astrid whom sat some what sideways opposite him running her fingers through her gorgeous blonde locks, even in the pitch blackness of their bedchamber his adjusted eyesight could clearly make out the shapely curves of her womanly figure in fine nit detail and felt a faint smile form upon his lips whilst thinking and feeling like the luckiest man in all of Viking history to have such a beautiful woman as his wife and the future mother of their children someday. Turing away before she caught him staring at her, Hiccup would forever remember the image of her seated there combing her fingers through her hair for the rest of his life, and reaching downward began feeling around for his cloths so that he could get dressed.

Stepping out of their room and coming around the corner of the stairs leading toward the loft area, ten minutes later, Astrid dressed in her usually outfit and hair braided just the way she liked it, Hiccup dressed in his tunic and leather pants, having decided to forgo wearing his leather armor/flight suit for the day, the newlyweds took one look around the room before walking toward the front door. Pushing the front door open as quietly as possible, a few moments later, since it appeared as though his mother was still soundly asleep, the couple deeply breathed in the crisp cool morning air on the other side and looking out over the gradually lightening distant horizon watched the sun slowly rise from just a tiny sliver of golden orange just barely visible of in the distance until its soft glow was partially reflected upon the dancing ocean waves; its warm rays gently encouraging every living being in the world to awaken from their slumber. Turning where they stood and walking back inside of their spacious home, the new chieftain and his wife, began their first day of their new life together by making breakfast.

Watching her hubby as he set about pulling out stores and a cauldron from the homes large pantry before chopping vegetables and a variety of smoked, salt cured and air dried fish which he then placed into a three quarters filled cauldron with some kind of thicken yak milk sauce, that he had made by first combining equally parts of flour and yak butter into something that he called a roué and cooked it off briefly before thinning it out by adding yak milk while stirring it together at the same time so that the mixture of the two items would split. Then added in the rest of the ingredients before giving it a few stirs to make sure that all of the root vegetables' and fish were evenly mixed into it, removed the spoon that he had used to stir everything together and rested it atop the cauldron told his wife that breakfast would be ready in approximately fifteen to twenty minutes. Captivated at how easily Hiccup prepared such a simply yet filling meal for the three of them and still had all ten of his fingers afterward, Astrid couldn't believe what a lucky young woman she was to be married to such a highly skilled young man both in and outside of the home and now that she really thought about it they never really talked all that much about how his life at home was, except when ever him and his dad were didn't get along; but apart form that, the subject didn't come up to often.

Awoken by the aroma of something really good cooking away on the hearth in the room below her, Valka threw back the covers of her son's bed and having slept in her clothes, slid her feet into her boots, walked toward the wide open doorway and began descending the stairs in search of the source of the delicious smell. Looking up for the lightly bubbling cauldron as he heard the sound of boot steps coming down the stairs that lead up toward the loft, a few moments later, Hiccup finished pouring the last of the yak milk out of the little pitcher he held in one hand while he smoothly blended it into the fish stew with the spoon clutched in his other before greeting his mother with a warm good morning. Not quite sure what to make of the scene that she had walked down into, since she had sort of half expected Astrid to be the one minding the cauldron not her son, the mature Viking woman merely shrugged her shoulders and descending the rest of the stairs, seated herself next to Astrid whom sat on the pelt covered couch, patiently waited to eat breakfast with them. Giving the fish stew a taste to ensure that everything was cooked through and the seasoning was right, a few minutes later, Hiccup carefully ladled a bowlful for both Astrid and his mother before filling a bowl form himself and taking a seat in his late father's huge chair dug in. Firmly holding the turned wooden bowl that her son had handed to her, a few moments prior, with one hand while she slipped her spoon through the delicious looking fish stew with the other, Valka marveled at how the bite sized pieces of vegetables and fish and creamy white sauce smoothly flowed together before lifting a spoonful to her lips and after briefly blowing out it to cool it slightly, ate it.

As the warm milky liquid and a few bits of fish and vegetables pasted over her parted lips and into her mouth, Valka could not believe how wonderful the fish stew tasted and how perfectly balanced its overlapping melody of flavours were; how had Hiccup learned to cook, with such fine expertise, she was eager to know because she already knew that she wasn't the best when it came to being a homemaker as far as cooking was concerned and doubted that Stoick's own cooking skills were any better than her own, so were in the name of Thor did Hiccup get his masterful cauldron skills from. Stealing a glance of Astrid, whom sat next to her, the mother-in-law could tell just be the young lass' expression that she to was wondering the same thing as her.

"Son, this is just amazing, how in the world did you learn to cook such good food?" Valka asked carefully resting her bowl and spoon down atop her lap, a half a dozen or so spoonfuls later.

"Well someone had to do all the cooking and chores around here, since being chief kept dad pretty busy most of the time," Hiccup answered stopping midway through filling his spoon with more fish stew from the bowl held in the other, "So after I was finished with my blacksmith apprenticing duties in the forge, I would come back home and do all the chores and what not, it was difficult at first but after a little while it just became second nature to me, I guess."

"Hiccup, I never knew that you had such a hard life growing up," Astrid commented stopping eating as well, not at all surprised that Hiccup rose up to such a challenging task at such a young age, well with the exception of apprenticing to become a blacksmith, that was clearly Stoick's misguided attempt to make Hiccup a more Viking like but then again he made good use of those very same skills to secretly build Toothless a prosthetic tail fin to replace the one that he had sheared off when he had shot the majestic Night Fury down on the night of the raid.

"It was a life, you never should have had to live in the first place," Valka said a slight edge in her voice as she looked up from her food, her eyes coming to rest upon the young man that her only child had grew into during her twenty year absence, "I should have been here, it's a mothers duty to raise her children and see that the household is taken care of but instead you've had to do everything on your own since you were just a wee lad, essentially you've raised yourself all on your own with very little or no parental guidance to speak of."

"Now, I don't know if I would go so far as to say that, Mom, Dad was the one that kept a roof over our heads, even if I was the one repairing it sometimes and Goober sort of acted like a surrogate father to me and after everything with the Red Death he and I did get along a little bit better than before," Hiccup noted, sort of understanding where his mother was coming from having missed such a large chunk of his life and it was time that they could never get back, no matter how much either one wished they could, "Right now, what's important is that you're here right now, Mom, even if Stoick isn't any longer, so lets make a lot of happy memories together with Astrid and the rest of our newly expanded family, ok Mom."

"Hiccup, for a second there you sounded just like your father, firm yet understanding," Valka commented, a light giggling dancing from her lips while her voice resumed its softer qualities as well before teasingly adding, a few moments later, "Astrid's one lucky lass, to be married to you, it makes me feel sort of jealous the two of you since its not very often that you hear of a marriage these days that's out of love rather than by contract, at least that's how it was for me and Stoick but in time I did grow to love him. Now feel free to correct me, if I'm mistaken but shouldn't you be wearing your hair up in a bun, my dear."

"Not if I don't want to, Val, Hiccup decided to change that tribe law about married woman having to wear their hair in a bun, this morning," Astrid gently stated in a matter of fact tone, softly smiling toward her husband, "Though I highly doubt most of the older women of the village will appreciate it, given how stubborn we Vikings can be, but your wonderful son has some really progressive views about women."

"I'm not the least bit surprised by that one bit, Astrid, he takes after me after all and I always try my best to get along well with everyone around me," Valka said agreeing with the shield maiden, now sweetly smiling at her son briefly before focusing her green eyes upon the blue eyed blonde seated beside her, "But if you don't mind me asking, I couldn't help but notice that apart for the exercises in the training arena, you didn't come up to much during Hiccup's explanation yesterday until practically the last little bit. So I'm just curious to know, what you were doing the entire time that, he was secretly training Toothless and learning about the true nature of most dragons, along the way?"

"I'm not very proud of it and if I knew then, what I know now about the true nature of dragons than I would have done things very differently than I had back then," Astrid said feeling slightly guilty that she hadn't done more to help Hiccup back when the people of Berk still killed dragons, since a part of her did find him interesting and the two of them use to be such great friends as children, that one more than one occasion she had laid out both Tuffnut and Snotlout when she thought that they had taken their bullying of him to far but that was quite some time ago and it wasn't until their first flight together did she fully realize just how much she needed to have him back in her life again to bring balance to it once more. Not only that but she also realized that even thought she had only spoken to him when it was absolutely necessary, since the two of them had drifted apart, and no longer stood up for him against the Snotlout, mostly, whom bullied him incisively at this point, that the little secret crush she had on him as a child had grown into feelings of caring and love which naturally tugged at her heartstrings when she saw the way that he was treated but instead of stepping in and telling them to stop it, she stood by and silently allowed them to continue tormenting him, "I would like to say that I went out of my way to help Hiccup to the best of my ability, Val, but than it would be a complete farce. When we weren't training to kill dragons with Gobber, I was busy out in the woods sharpening my skills for the day that the war against the dragons became ours instead of our parents but as we all know that sort of changed after he defeated the Red Death and we started training dragons instead of killing them. Back then I couldn't even bring myself to forcefully stop the twin's or Snotlout from picking on him, even thought it silently pained me to see the way which they treated him and made me want to lop their heads off with my axe, well maybe just Snotlout's head away, at least then I would be rid of his never ending attempts to court me."

"I'm a little disappointed to hear that, you spent most of your free time honing you killing skills yet I wouldn't have expected nothing less from such a strong warrior such as yourself, Astrid," Valka noted acknowledging her daughter-in-laws hard earned and honed abilities, before warmly smiling at the young woman added, "I'm also glad to know that his bullying hurt you as well, even if you never allowed it to show."

"Of course, it hurt me, Val, the two of use to be such great friends as children," Astrid began to ramble feeling suddenly anxious for some unknown reason but did know why and attempted to stop herself form saying anything more before she poured out her heart entirely about how she really felt back then but the deep seeded and heavily emotional weighted words still found their ways to her lips and spilled fourth over them, "We would go hiking a lot and explore the woods around the village, why sometimes we would even climbed up to one of Berk's more secluded grassy hills and looked out over the vast ocean just taking in its open expanse nestled together silently enjoying the view. And for a while I was happy, spending time with Hiccup made me oh so very happy but then when I turned seven my dad thrust an axe nearly as big as I was at the time into my hands and told me that it was time for me to begin training to become the best axe fighter that Berk had ever seen," tears now followed from the corners of her eyes, rolling down her checks and landed in the partially eaten bowl of fish stew she held, as the memory of that life changing day and the heartbreaking emotions that came with it overwhelmed her, since it meant that she wouldn't be able to spent as much time with Hiccup as she secretly desired and always looked forward to with bright eyes and happy smiles, "After that I gradually began spending less and less time with Hiccup to focus more on my training instead and soon before I knew it half a year had past and we would barely so much as acknowledged each other when ever our paths crossed in the village. Six months was it took for a deep and seemingly bottomless chasm to replace to strong friendship that we had once shared and I secretly longed to regain, which I eventually did thanks in large part to Toothless and the romantic flight he took us on that night. Worst of all I stopped defending him, he was my friend, no he was someone that I cared for and loved but instead of doing anything to put a stop to it, I just stood idly by and watched as they haze and bully him. Why did my father have to put that axe in my hands and tell me to become the best axe fighter Berk had ever seen, surely both of my parents must have seen how much happier I had been with Hiccup in my life but no that wasn't good enough for my dad, his daughter had to be strong, the best in Berk, when all I really wanted was just to have my Hiccup back and those lazy happy afternoons spent with just one another for company. Than Stoick started up dragon training again and I should have been happy, since it meant that I would get to spend some time with him again but instead I began to treat him nearly as badly as the Snotlout and the twin's did, and during the night that just tore my heart to pieces, how could I ever treat him like those three, he was important and special to me and yet there I was ripping into and belittling him as if I thought he was not worthy of me, but I was the one not worthy of him."

Having not expected the emotional tidal wave that had slipped from Astrid's lips, for her seemingly innocent observation Valka looked pasted the silently crying blue eyed blonde sitting next to her toward her seated son and her green eyes where met be a similar pair that also shimmered with quiet tears. Clearing something that Astrid had just said had struck a chord within him, perhaps he hadn't known that despite her behaviour toward him publicly while growing up, it in no way reflected how she really felt about him deep down on inside. Quietly standing up and switching places with Hiccup since it obvious to her that he wanted to comfort his crying wife, Valka watched as her son carefully placed his bowl and spoon upon the floor and then repeated the action with the bowl and spoon that Astrid still managed to somehow hold in her now slightly trembling hands before slipping an arm around her waist and the other about her shoulders gently pulled her into his chest. Looking up as she felt lips tenderly kissing her upon the forehead, her shimmering blue eyes briefly locked with the equally as shimmering green of her husband and burying her head into the side if his neck, a few moments later, cried until the tears ceased to flow. Having never seen the woman had loved in such a state before, Hiccup removed arm that he had wrapped around her shoulders and began to rub its hand up and down her back comfortingly; Astrid Hofferson, was always so strong, brave and fearless, he had always admired those qualities about her, so to see her with tears rolling down her checks scared and frightened him at the same time, never would he have ever imagined that she would be the tearfully type, it was just so unlike her.

"There, now, milady, are you feeling better," Hiccup gently asked, continuing to tenderly stroke the fingers of his hand over his wife's back, a little while later, his breakfast long forgotten and having gone stone cold.

"Yeah, much better, darling," Astrid responded raising her face to look up into her husbands, a warm happy smiling dancing upon her lips even if her eyes looked as if she had been crying before adding sheepishly, "I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me, I just couldn't keep it all inside anymore. I really enjoyed our little adventures back when we were kids, and am sorry for losing my temper with you during dragon training."

"So did I, Astrid, it was really fun exploring the island with you and we been on so many amazing adventure since we've been dating, as for the whole training thing I've sort of forgiven you for that countless moons ago," the young chief said comfortingly in a reassuring tone, happy to see that his wife was back her normal self, well would he considered her normal around him anyway, "I was going to wait until before we left to go down to the Great Hall to continue with the clean up and what not, but I think that I'll go get it and give it to you now."

Reluctantly releasing the tender loving hold that he held Astrid in, Hiccup briefly pecked her upon one her damp cheeks before standing up and walking around the back the of the pelt covered couch, climbed up the stairs leading to his old loft room. Looking up in the direction of said room, a few moments later, when the sound of furniture being moved about briefly drew there attention. Wondering just what her hubby was doing up in the loft, shifting and moving things about the room, Astrid got to her feet and was about to go investigate for herself when the sound Hiccup's miss-matched footsteps could be heard exiting the room, she stopped in her tracks and she sat back down. Carefully stepping around the two bowls of cold fish stew sitting on the floor near where he had been seated, Hiccup sat back down beside his wife before asking for her to extend her right hand. Reaching out the hand in question, Astrid felt him gently caress it with his left one and watched as he slid a beautifully designed oath ring on to her ring finger; the softened edges of its golden braided leather design dancing in the light of the lowly burning fire of the hearth and the three clear bright blue gemstones set within it sparkling.

"Oh, Hiccup, it's beautiful," Astrid spoke softly as she looked up form the oath ring now gracing her hand and into the face of her hubby, "But when in the world did you find the time, to create such a special piece with me in mind?"

"Designing it was the easy part, actually making it was pretty hard without my dad or Gobber catching on but it was well worth the effort just to see the look of happiness in your enchanting eyes, Astrid," Hiccup said, his forehead furrowing briefly as he thought back to the long nights that he had put in working at the forge and the countless attempts until he got their oath bands prefect, "I hope that its not to tight or to loose, on your finger."

"It's a perfect fit, darling, and is unlike any oath band that I have ever seen in my life," Astrid said raising her right hand and slowly running the fingertips of her left one over the band, feeling all of the divots and bumps of the cast metal rings design; in comparison with the simple solid and unadorned band that both of her parents wore and most of the other married couples on Berk for that matter, the ring that Hiccup had given her was fit for the likes of Viking royalty and made her feel like a queen amongst the commoners, "What do the three stones mean."

"Going from left to right, the first Sapphire represents our past, the one in the center, our present, and lastly the one on the right, our future," Hiccup said gently clasping both of his wife's hands between his, "It matches the one that I also made for myself, except that instead of using Sapphires like I did for yours, mine has three pieces of a semi-precious black stone called Jet. I made them a little over six months ago, just in case Dad ever attempted to sit me down and give me the marriage talk and I've been anxiously holding on to them since, keeping them hidden in a drawer of me desk."

"Six months, huh, well I can't say that you weren't prepared for the prospect of the two if us getting hitched but if you've had our oath rings ready since than, then how come you waited so long to propose to me, hon.'?"

"To be completely honest with you Astrid, even though I was willing and prepared to make our oath rings, the idea of marriage scared me half to death but as my father's heir I know that it was something that I couldn't avoid and besides that a part of me was worried that you would turn me down," Hiccup truthfully responded, looking his wife directly in her blue eyes, "Look I know how neurotic that sounds, since we've been going steady for so long but at the same token for the longest time, I believed that the crush that I had on you was one sided but now I know that this entire time your feelings have mirrored my own and I'm sorry that didn't ask you sooner."

"Son, if anyone should be sorry, it's me," Valka commented, an apologetic tone coming to her voice, having not intended to make Astrid cry by what she had previously said, "Since I believe that it was my innocent observation that's to blame."

"I don't know why either of you are apologizing for, both of you have very valid points and I'm the one that's been keeping it penned up inside," Astrid said shifting her gaze between her husband and mother-in-law, before finally resting it back upon Hiccup and saying, "I've been trying to find the right time to say it ever since we started dating but could never find a good moment, so I'm happy that I was finally able to but you know, hubby, you made an awful racket up there for just taking two oath rings out of your desk drawer."

"Yeah, well that was just to buy some time, milady," Hiccup sheepishly said letting go of his wife's hands and turning out the small drawstring pouch that he had kept the two oath rings inside of, in to the palm of his left hand before handing the ring meant for him to her, adding, "If you would, be so kind to return the favour, my love."

"It would be my honor, babe," Astrid said taking the ring from her hubby and sliding it down the ring finger of his left hand before leaning forward and pressing her lips against his in a sweet loving kiss briefly.

Joyously smiling at each other as their eyes locked together, a few moments later, the couple found the others hands and lacing their fingers together smashed their lips together in a deep and intensely passionate kiss. Breaking a part as their need for fresh air overrode the kiss, a few minutes later, the faint rosy hue gracing their checks grew slightly darker in shade as they both remembered that Valka was sitting in the massive chair adjacent to the two them. Softly smiling over the embarrassed reaction of the young lovers seated in the room with her understandingly, the mature Viking woman couldn't help but chuckle over their coloured cheeks; situations like this were exactly the reason she don't want to impose on them but than again Astrid had been the one to extend the offer to stay with the newlyweds until a home could be build for her and she had accepted said offer. With the moment ruined, Hiccup and Astrid separated and hurriedly apologized to Valka for getting caught up in the moment. Shrugging it off as if it she hadn't noticed a thing, Valka picked up both of there bowls and topped them off with some more of the fish stew before filling up her own.

Not wanting to waste a single bit of food, the three of them ate until the cauldron was empty, approximately two bowls per person, before washing up the dishes and putting out the lowly embers smoldering in the hearth. Walking down the path toward the village, a short while later, Hiccup and Astrid followed behind Valka walking hand in hand the sunlight glittering and glistening off their oath bands. Upon reaching the village and noticing that some of his people had already began picking up from where the clean up had finished the day before, the new chieftain then turned to his wife and mother and asked them to go around telling everyone to stop what ever they were currently doing and to come to the Great Hall because he had a few things that he wanted to say to them. Slipping her hand over his as she took her place at Hiccup's side, standing atop the steps of the Great Hall before the assembled Vikings, a little over half an hour later, Astrid easily spotted Ruffnut in the crowd sandwiched between Eret on one side of her with Snoutlout and Fishlegs jockeying of position on the other and following the path of her gaze looked down at the oath band she now wore and briefly flashed her friend a smirking smile before turning her head to look at her husband, whom by now had raised his free hand motioning for the group of big burly Viking men and women standing before them to quiet down. Only after a hush had fallen over the crowd did Hiccup then begin to speak of the plans that he had for the future of the tribe and its continued peaceful co-existence with all known species of dragons, and after he was finished speaking the crowd cheered and shouted merrily before finally allowing them to get back to what ever it was they were doing before he had summoned them. Turning to face her son as the sounds of working slowly began to drift upon the air once more, Valka told him that she was going headed down to the stables to feed Cloudjumper and monitor how the dragons form the nest were adjusting to life on the island. Pecking her husband on the cheek, a few moments later, Astrid told him that she was going to tend to their dragons and be right back after she was finished and with that left with Valka walking in the direction of the dragon stables. True to her word, Astrid did return and with both of their dragons in tow, a short while later, the newlyweds then spend a large chunk of the rest of the day going around the village and helping out where ever them could.

**Now I know that I might of made Astrid, a little bit OOC in this chapter I'm not too sure but if I have than so be it, I'm not going to rewrite again for like the fifth time, damn you writers block why is it that you also hit right when I'm in the middle of an important part, but since I've somehow managed to work with through you this time I'll count this chapter as a victory over you the bane of writers all round the world. I just thought that I would touch a little on Valka's cooking since it was in the movie and to give Astrid a bit more depth, I thought it would be nice if at some point the two of them had been childhood friends that had drifted apart so I added that in as well and sort of her point of view on his bullying. Additionally I'm uncertain, if I have the oath bands on the correct hand(s) and what not, and I know that some of you may find three stone idea that I have used for their rings a little corning and cliché but hey what can I say other than that's the hopeless romantic in me coming out in my writing. Well anyways I do hope that you enjoyed the chapter and I know it was a rather long one but I just couldn't bring myself to cut it in half, you know what to do. **


	6. Epilogue

**Once again I would like to thank all of those who have been reading this story and leaving reviews, its been a real pleasure writing something for HTTYD, I have a few more ideas for additional stories set within this world but you'll just have to wait for those as I have a few of my other ones that I want to complete before, I can even think about getting those started. This is the last chapter for this story, so I hope all of you readers enjoy it. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the rights, to the characters, movie, etc. **

**The responsibilities of being chief **

**Epilogue **

It had been a fortnight, since Hiccup had replaced his father, Stoick the Vast, as the chieftain of the Hooligan tribe and with the reconstruction of the village and winter preparations progressing well, he was finally able to properly grieve the death of his late father, fortunately he had the unwavering support of his wife and recently returned Mother to help him through it. Now that he was one in change, everyday become a new learning experience for him, as Gobber told him of the seemingly endless duties that a chieftain was responsible for around the village, Hiccup finally understood why his father always wore the hard, stony expression he did; it just wasn't directed solely toward him, making sure that the village ran smoothly day in and day out, was a never ending stream of small tasks and the trouble which he, more often than not, caused during the raids surely only made his dads job even harder for him but now that they had peace with the dragons that was one task that the young chief was elated, that he didn't have to deal with, for obvious reasons. Now as the newlyweds sorrowfully packed away Stoick's belongings away in a large storage trunk, on this Saturday afternoon, Hiccup stopped as he came upon a small wooden box and carefully picking up the box in his hands, walked over toward the bed and sat down atop its edge. Setting down the thick brown fur cloak that she had just finished folding upon the pelts of their bed, and walking around to the other side sat down beside her husband to see what he was looking at. Turning to look into the face of his lovely wife as she took a seat next to him, a few moments later, Hiccup showed her the wooden box that he came across in a weapons chest that had belonged to his late father.

"I wonder what's inside?" Astrid said reaching out for Hiccup's hand with her own and tenderly lacing their fingers together.

"I don't know, my love, and honestly don't think I'm ready to know that just yet," Hiccup said staring down at the small wooden box resting upon his lap, while countless thoughts of its possible contents formed in the depths of his mind.

"Well, what ever it is, it can't be very big," Astrid noted measuring the item sitting atop her husbands lap with her eyes, "So I think that we can exclude the possibility of it being a weapon of some kind because a box that size wouldn't even fit a useable dagger, so more than likely its probably just some important papers or something like that. Besides its not as if you have to open it, right this instant if you're feeling uncomfortable about doing so, babe."

"Yeah true enough but what if its something that can help be understand my new role as tribe leader better, than it would be ok to open it, right," the young chief reasoned, subconsciously rubbing the fingertips of his free hand over the boxes hinged lid without realizing it before plucking up all the courage that he could muster at the moment and with a sigh escaping his mouth, slowly eased the lid open revealing the contents hidden inside.

Slipping the hand that Astrid held onto out of her grasp, a few moments later, and reaching inside the open wooden box with it, pushed a tanned leather pouch out of the way and felt his eyes widen as they feel upon a folded letter bearing his name underneath it. Removing the letter from the depths of the box, Hiccup placed the box and the rest of it contents down in the open space to his right and unfolding the thick piece of paper began to read what was written in it by the candle light which lit their bedchamber. The letter read as follows;

'Dear, son, I know that our relationship has always been a rocky one but I couldn't ask for a better child than you, my boy. And a prouder father I could not possibly be especially when I see the strong Viking that you have grown into but there comes a time in every parents life when their child must leave home and learned to be independent, but lets be honest, my boy, you've had that covered ever since you were just a wee lad and I'm sorry that I wasn't as good a father as I should have been to you growing up. I've made my share of bad decisions over my lifetime but my biggest and most unforgivable was trying to make you into something that you weren't, you whom so strongly remind me of your dear mother. Had I just been a few seconds quicker that night, than she would still be here with us and I have no doubt that she is just a proud of the peace that you have brought to our homeland as much as I am, son, and all of your heroic deeds since.' Hiccup stopped reading to wipe away the tears that were beginning to pool in the corners of his eyes from reading his late fathers words with his thumb before resuming reading from the spot where he had stopped to dry his eyes, 'Now that you're all grown up and are well on your way to one day having a family of your own, unless my eyes have been play an elaborate trick on me over these past five years. However before I hand over me rule over to you, I want to know that our linage will be safe and don't think that I haven't noticed how close you and Astrid have gradually become or how deeply in love both of you are with one another. Now before you start freaking out on me and start saying things like you're not ready to be chief and such, just relax because I have decided that you can gradually take things over from me, Son, at your own pace. For now I only ask that you, seriously give some thought on proposing to the pretty and charming girlfriend of yours, since a woman the likes of her only comes around once in your lifetime, and take it from someone with a wealth of experience, the love of a good woman is to be treasured and her warmth kept close to ones chest. Now I would have loved to sit down and talked this over with you in more detail but as is our way both of us are just too busy doing our own thing to make time for it, so that's how come I've decided to write in down in this letter, just in case the worst should happen to me some day and you need to step up to take my place, if you haven't already done so by such time. Well I'm off to the dragon races, I'll be sure to wish your special lady, good luck on your behave in today's event.'

Lowering the letter and allowing it to slip form his in-between his fingers, to slowly float down toward the floor Hiccup hung his head in shame. Onthe morning that his Dad had attempted to sit him down and have this serious conversation with him for the first time in years, it wasn't about him taking over the chiefdom that he had wanted to discuses after all but instead of actually taking the time to listen to his father for once, Hiccup would have rather went exploring and charting new islands with Toothless. In the back his mind Stoick's letter stirred up several emotions, none of them good, as the memory of the last time that the two had attempted to have a really serious talk, dragon training, came to the forefront of his thoughts and how very one sided that conversation had been for them even thought he tried his best to come up with every possible excuse that could get him out of the situation and failing at it miserably, however unlike that time when it had been his now late father whom was being the stubborn one, this time it was him filling that role; not that he really said much or gave his father much of a chance to but as it was so much more often with him, than most of the other Vikings on the isle, his actions spoke greater volume than his words ever could. Having been reading Stoick's letter over her husbands shoulder, Astrid tried to find the right words to comfort him at the moment but they either escaped her completely or would get could in her throat when she attempted to speak them. Not once had it ever occurred to her that she might just be the subject matter, which his father had wanted to talk about earlier that morning as they joked about the all to brief conversation; since he was the heir to the chiefdom, it was naturally the first thing that came to either ones mind, not the prospect of their marriage which as Stoick's letter now clearly stated was the real reason that the Chief had wanted to talk with his son that morning, with the possibility of Hiccup taking over the chiefdom one day coming secondary. Reaching down and collecting the letter from the floor, a few moments later, the blue eyed blonde neatly folded it back up and tightly holding it in her left hand nestled against her husband's side, leaning her head lovingly into the side of his bowed neck.

Gradually beginning to feel his down trodden spirits lighten as Astrid's warmth steeped in to his body, Hiccup felt the heaviness and regrets deep within in his heart ebb away. Slowly raising his bowed head, a few moments later, and turning it ever so slightly in the direction of his wife, tenderly kissed her upon the temple. Feeling a light smile find its way to his mouth as it rubbed over her creamy skin, Hiccup reached across her body with his right hand and gently prying his late father's letter out of her hand, careful not to tear or rip it in anyway, the chieftain withdrew his hand clutching the folded piece of thick paper between his fore and index fingers. Dropping it back inside of the wooden box that he had found it in, the auburn haired young man shut the box lid while breaking his tender loving kiss. Flashing her hubby a soft warm sideways smile, mere seconds later, Astrid leaned in and gave him a quick peak on the cheek before suggesting that they take a break to get some fresh air.

Concernedly watching Hiccup out of the corner of her eye as he picked at the food on his plate disinterestedly, a little while later, Astrid could just tell by the distant look in his usually bright eyes that Stoick's letter was still bothering him. She could only imagine the thoughts that were swirling around inside of her husbands head over the letters shocking revelations and decided that the best way for her to help him get over any doubts that may have taken root, was to gently remind him of all the good that he had done for the people of Berk by showing them the inherently calm nature of dragons when they were treated with understanding and respect over blind hatred. Downing the last few dregs of meade in the bottom of her tankard and finishing the last few bites from the quarter chicken on her plate, the blue eyed blonde wiped her hands clean over her covered forearms before gently placing a hand upon his arm. Sheepishly smiling at Astrid as he turned to face her, a few moments later, the concern that he saw swimming in their blue depths caught his attention, cutting across his thoughts with all razor sharpness of a dagger over his skin and attempted to smile a little happier but the corners of his mouth just refused to raise any higher; Hiccup didn't know why his late father's words were eating in to him so savagely, after all their bond had always been a laboured one even after he defeated the Red Death, so why was he suddenly feeling like he was fifteen years old all over again with the echo of his father's booming anger laced voice disowning him and telling him that he was no longer his son ringing inside of his ears. Knowing just what she needed to do to get the man she loved back to his normal self, Astrid stood up and walking round to the other side of her husband grabbing both of his hands with hers, lifted him to his feet before guiding the two of them toward and through the thick heavy doors of the Great Hall. Stitching the fingers of his right hand together with those of her left as they walked in the direction of the dragon stables, a few moments later.

Walking over to Toothless' remodeled stable, the newlyweds were not the least bit surprised to find both of their dragons inside of it together. Every since the Night Fury's defeat of Drago's Bewilder Beast, Stromfly rarely strayed far from his side, the two dragons did practically everything together except the odd Dragon Race and flying since Toothless needed Hiccup to get off the ground even with the new tailfin that his rider had constructed so that the Night Fury didn't have to be so reliant on his human rider once in flight. Pretty much for the most part, the lives of their dragons was a reflection of their own with the exception of a little incident between the cerulean blue Nadder and purple Monstrous Nightmare that had forced its way between the two, a few days in to Berks reconstruction, on the far side of the island and attempted to persuade him that she would be a much better match than her. According to what Valka told them she had seen from flying over the area on Cloudjumper at the time, Stromfly raised her spikes before taking to the air and dive bombing the other dragoness a few times, but seeing that was having little effect, suddenly arched out of the a wide turn and barreled toward the other female in a controlled yet speedy decent head butted said dragon in the flank with so much force that the purple Nightmare was send crashing into the trees on the other side of the little clearing they were in before rocketing skyward again and looping back around landed gracefully in-between Toothless and the Nightmare, flaring out her wings with a roar as if daring the other female to attempt coming between the two the of them again and how the defeated/humiliated by the far smaller dragoness the purple Nightmare flipped its wings twice before gaining enough altitude to fly away from the scene. Shifting her gaze to the fleeing Nightmare, for just as few seconds before returning it to Stromfly and Toothless, briefly watched as the cerulean blue Nadder and black Night Fury affectionately nuzzled one another before dipping Cloudjumper's wing tip and going in search of the other dragon to make sure that it wasn't injured, even if Stromfly actions were acceptable.

Walking over toward their cuddled dragons and separating them from one another, much to their displeasure but both of the scaly creatures protests stopped the moment their eyes caught sight of their riders own and they quietly allowed themselves to be pulled to opposite sides of the stable. Climbing up onto the backs of their saddled dragons, a few minutes later, Astrid glanced over toward Hiccup from where she sat atop Stromfly and could see the beginnings of her hubby's trademark goofy smile, which she loved so much, start to come to his lips. Shooting out through the stables open gates, mere seconds later, the newlyweds raced one another just as they had on the day that he had first woken up following his defeat of the Red Death. Leveling off smoothly as they left Berk behind them, after only a few minutes of flying, Astrid turned to look at her husband and saw a huge smile spread across his face, his lightly braided hair blowing in breeze; he really did belong up in the sky, where he was usually the happiest individual one Berk, other than when the two of them were together

Shifting her focus back to her dragon, the blue eyed blonde smiled to herself as she pulled Stromfly up next to Toothless, whom had his wings fully extended in a gliding position and nimbly dismounting her dragon, delicately crossed the thin membrane of the wing bridge that connected the two. Feeling a pair of arms wrap around his waist behind him, a few moments later, Hiccup didn't have to look back over his shoulder to see whom they belonged to but he did anyway and when he did his green eyes briefly locked with a pair blue before Astrid leaned her head slightly forward and closing the narrow gap between them, pressed her lips against his in a sweet, tender loving kiss. Briefly kissing her back, before breaking their locked lips, Hiccup felt Astrid nestle herself even more snuggly against his leather armored back as he turned his head to face forward once more. Less than a minute later, his wife rested her chin atop his armor covered shoulder and her head buried into the side of his neck while her dragon slipped out of Toothless' jet stream and dipping a wing tip Stromfly arched back in the direction of Berk.

**The End**

**Not that I have anything against, the thrust into leadership sort of feeling that the second movie has, but its hard to say that the Chiefdom was for sure what Stoick wanted to sit down and talk to Hiccup about since the later didn't really give him a chance. Well I do hope all of you readers/followers have enjoyed this story and I hope the ending lived up to your expectations, even it didn't I'm still happy with how I ended it. Well you know what to do, so please R&amp;R, and if you liked this one than I suggest that you read some of my other works on this site. **


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